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Exodus 4

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Moses Objects: The Signs of Authority 1–9

1
And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The LORD hath not appeared unto thee. ​
2
And the LORD said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod.
3
And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it. ​
4
And the LORD said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail. And he put forth his hand, and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand:
5
That they may believe that the LORD God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared unto thee. ​
6
And the LORD said furthermore unto him, Put now thine hand into thy bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom: and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous as snow. ​
7
And he said, Put thine hand into thy bosom again. And he put his hand into his bosom again; and plucked it out of his bosom, and, behold, it was turned again as his other flesh.
8
And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign.
9
And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe also these two signs, neither hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt take of the water of the river, and pour it upon the dry land: and the water which thou takest out of the river shall become blood upon the dry land. ​

Moses Objects Again: Aaron Appointed Spokesman 10–17

10
And Moses said unto the LORD, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue. ​
11
And the LORD said unto him, Who hath made man's mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the LORD? ​
12
Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say.
13
And he said, O my Lord, send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send. ​
14
And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses, and he said, Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well. And also, behold, he cometh forth to meet thee: and when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart. ​
15
And thou shalt speak unto him, and put words in his mouth: and I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what ye shall do.
16
And he shall be thy spokesman unto the people: and he shall be, even he shall be to thee instead of a mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead of God. ​
17
And thou shalt take this rod in thine hand, wherewith thou shalt do signs. ​

The Return to Egypt 18–23

18
And Moses went and returned to Jethro his father in law, and said unto him, Let me go, I pray thee, and return unto my brethren which are in Egypt, and see whether they be yet alive. And Jethro said to Moses, Go in peace. ​
19
And the LORD said unto Moses in Midian, Go, return into Egypt: for all the men are dead which sought thy life. ​
20
And Moses took his wife and his sons, and set them upon an ass, and he returned to the land of Egypt: and Moses took the rod of God in his hand. ​
21
And the LORD said unto Moses, When thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in thine hand: but I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go. ​
22
And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD, Israel is my son, even my firstborn: ​
23
And I say unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me: and if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn. ​

The Circumcision Crisis 24–26

24
And it came to pass by the way in the inn, that the LORD met him, and sought to kill him. ​
25
Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet, and said, Surely a bloody husband art thou to me. ​
26
So he let him go: then she said, A bloody husband thou art, because of the circumcision.

The Leaders Meet and the People Believe 27–31

27
And the LORD said to Aaron, Go into the wilderness to meet Moses. And he went, and met him in the mount of God, and kissed him. ​
28
And Moses told Aaron all the words of the LORD who had sent him, and all the signs which he had commanded him.
29
And Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel:
30
And Aaron spake all the words which the LORD had spoken unto Moses, and did the signs in the sight of the people. ​
31
And the people believed: and when they heard that the LORD had visited the children of Israel, and that he had looked upon their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshipped. ​

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

Study Notes for Exodus 4

Verse 1

they will not believe me — Aman, to believe, the verb of vv.5, 8, 9 and 31. God had already said, ‘they shall hearken to thy voice’ (3:18); Moses answers with the opposite. The reply is the third of five objections (3:11, 13; 4:1, 10, 13). At v.31, ‘the people believed’.

Verse 3

it became a serpent — Nachash, the word for the serpent of Gen 3:1. The same rod is ‘turned to a serpent’ in 7:15, and Moses ‘made a serpent of brass’ in Num 21:9, to which Christ points: ‘as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness’ (John 3:14). Moses ‘fled from before it’.

Verse 5

hath appeared unto thee — God answers Moses’ words in v.1, ‘The LORD hath not appeared unto thee’, with the same verb, ra’ah, as in ‘the LORD appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre’ (Gen 18:1). The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is the title given at the bush (3:6, 15); ‘I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob’ (6:3).

Verse 6

leprous as snow — Tsara’, to be stricken with leprosy. The same white appearance marks Miriam, ‘leprous, white as snow’ (Num 12:10), and Gehazi, ‘a leper as white as snow’ (2 Kgs 5:27). The hand is healed in v.7: ‘it was turned again as his other flesh’. The sign shows the LORD’s power to afflict and to restore.

Verse 9

shall become blood upon the dry land — The third sign is held back until the first two are refused (v.8). Water from the river (the Nile) becomes dam, blood. It is acted out in 7:19–20 before Pharaoh, in the river into which he had ordered every son cast (1:22).

Verse 10

I am not eloquent — Literally ‘not a man of words’. ‘Slow of speech’ and ‘a slow tongue’ are ‘heavy of mouth’ and ‘heavy of tongue’ (kabed), the word for ‘sore’ of the famine in Gen 43:1. ‘O my Lord’ is the entreating bi, as in Gen 44:18. God’s answer comes in v.11.

Verse 11

Who hath made man’s mouth? — The LORD names mouth, dumbness, deafness, sight and blindness as his work. Ps 94:9 asks in the same way: ‘He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? he that formed the eye, shall he not see?’ In v.12 he adds, ‘I will be with thy mouth’. Christ made ‘both the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak’ (Mark 7:37).

Verse 13

send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send — Moses uses the same verb, shalach, as the call, ‘I will send thee unto Pharaoh’ (3:10). He asks God to use another’s hand. ‘O my Lord’ is the same plea as in v.10. The anger of v.14 follows, and a helper is named.

Verse 14

the anger of the LORD was kindled — Charah af, the phrase of Judah’s plea, ‘let not thine anger burn’ (Gen 44:18). Aaron is called ‘the Levite’, of Moses’ own tribe, and he ‘can speak well’ (literally, speaking he can speak). He ‘cometh forth to meet’ Moses; in v.27 he does.

Verse 16

instead of a mouth… instead of God — Aaron is to speak for Moses, as the LORD said, ‘put words in his mouth’ (v.15). Moses is to Aaron ‘instead of God’, the one from whom the words come. The LORD states it more fully later: ‘I have made thee a god to Pharaoh: and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet’ (7:1).

Verse 17

this rod — Matteh, the staff he had been asked about, ‘What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod’ (v.2). The shepherd’s staff is now the instrument of ‘signs’ (otot). In v.20 it is ‘the rod of God’. Paul writes that ‘God hath chosen the weak things of the world’ (1 Cor 1:27).

Verse 18

Go in peace — Moses returns to Jethro, his father-in-law, and asks leave to return to his brethren and ‘see whether they be yet alive’. Jethro answers lek leshalom, ‘go to peace’, the blessing Eli gives Hannah (1 Sam 1:17). Jethro, the priest of Midian (2:16), comes to Moses at the mount in 18:5.

Verse 19

all the men are dead which sought thy life — The king whose death is told in 2:23 had sought Moses’ life (2:15). The angel’s words to Joseph on the return from Egypt are the same: ‘they are dead which sought the young child’s life’ (Matt 2:20). Matthew applies Hos 11:1, ‘Out of Egypt have I called my son’ (Matt 2:15).

Verse 20

the rod of God — Matteh ha-Elohim. The rod of v.17 is called God’s from the day it is taken up for this errand. Moses holds it as Israel fights Amalek: ‘I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand’ (17:9). His wife and sons ride on an ass; the sons are Gershom and Eliezer (18:3–4).

Verse 21

I will harden his heart — Chazaq, to make strong or firm. It is announced here before the first sign. The record says: ‘he hardened Pharaoh’s heart’ (7:13), Pharaoh ‘hardened his heart’ when there was respite (8:15), and ‘the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh’ (9:12). Paul cites 9:16 in Rom 9:17–18.

Verse 22

Israel is my son, even my firstborn — Bekor, the firstborn. The title returns in Hos 11:1, ‘When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt’, which Matthew applies to Christ (Matt 2:15). ‘My son’ here and ‘thy son’ in v.23 are set against each other.

Verse 23

Let my son go, that he may serve me — Abad, to serve, the verb for Israel’s labour under Egypt (1:13: ‘made… to serve with rigour’). The demand turns that service to the LORD. The penalty is carried out when ‘the LORD smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt’ (12:29).

Verse 24

the LORD met him, and sought to kill him — Pagash, to meet, the verb used of Aaron’s meeting in v.27. The verse does not name the cause; v.25 ties it to circumcision, which the LORD had made the sign of the covenant with Abraham (‘he hath broken my covenant’, Gen 17:14). The ‘inn’ is a lodging-place.

Verse 25

a sharp stone — Zipporah circumcises her son herself. ‘Bloody husband’ renders chatan damim, literally ‘a bridegroom of blood’. In v.26 she explains it: ‘A bloody husband thou art, because of the circumcision.’ The LORD ‘let him go’; circumcision is the commanded sign of the covenant (Gen 17:10).

Verse 27

the mount of God — The mountain of 3:1, ‘the mountain of God, even to Horeb’, where Jethro later ‘encamped’ (18:5). Aaron, sent by the LORD, ‘met’ Moses there and ‘kissed him’. So the word of v.14, ‘he cometh forth to meet thee’, is carried out.

Verse 30

Aaron spake all the words — Moses had ‘told Aaron all the words of the LORD’ (v.28), and now Aaron speaks them, as the LORD said in vv.15–16. Aaron also does ‘the signs in the sight of the people’. The mouth is Aaron’s; the words are the LORD’s.

Verse 31

the people believed — This is the verb aman of v.1: those whom Moses thought would not believe do. ‘Visited’ (paqad) is Joseph’s word, ‘God will surely visit you’ (Gen 50:24). ‘Bowed their heads and worshipped’ is repeated at the first Passover (12:27).